A National Anti-Voting Movement

Republicans have purged voters from the rolls, enacted voter identification laws and closed polling places in states across the country.CreditCreditJustin Sullivan/Getty Images

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First, I try to avoid drawing immediate conclusions from acts of terrorism, like the bombs mailed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, other prominent Democrats and CNN. It’s unclear who sent them or what the motive was.

But I will say this: President Trump and his allies continue to talk about violence in completely irresponsible ways. That will remain true regardless of what we eventually learn about this incident. Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, made this point in a statement yesterday. My colleagues Charles Blow and Bret Stephens have also made it.

Some of Trump’s allies were quick to claim that the attacks were “false flag” operations, carried out by Democrats. “It’s obviously fine to withhold judgment on the attacks until law enforcement addresses more of the public’s questions,” writes Tiana Lowe in the conservative Washington Examiner. But “the rush from some on the Right to use a lack of facts to justify promulgating ridiculous conspiracy theories is both fallacious and irresponsible.”

In Arkansas, Iowa and North Dakota, Republicans have added onerous new identification requirements.

And in Florida, Iowa and Kentucky, Republicans have tried to make it even harder for people previously convicted of felonies to vote.

I find this anti-voter campaign to be an outrageous injustice, and it’s the main subject of the new episode of our podcast, “The Argument.” During the conversation, Michelle Goldberg puts voter suppression into the larger context of “minority rule,” and Ross Douthat argues that progressives like Michelle and me are overly focused on voting rules. The Democrats’ bigger problem, he says, is persuading people to want to vote for them.

Next week’s episode will be our last one before the midterm elections. Send us suggestions fortopics at argument@nytimes.com.

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David Leonhardt is a former Washington bureau chief for the Times, and was the founding editor of The Upshot and head of The 2020 Project, on the future of the Times newsroom. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for columns on the financial crisis. @DLeonhardt•Facebook